What equipment to start a 'wrong fuel' type business?

[pimping]

Hi guys.

I already have my trusty van and am thinking of entering into the misfuelling business. You know, somebody puts diesel in a petrol car and vice versa.

My question is does anybody have an idea of what equipment I would need? Specifically what could I use to suck the fuel up and how would I be able to identify the fuel line on every vehicle?

I know I'll need tanks on the vehicle and larger tanks plus disposal methods back at the unit I'll rent but the sucking it out of the offending vehicle and finding the fuel line is the bit I am concerned about.

Anybody had any experience of this?

[rog007]

Assuming you've already worked out demand, local competitors and pricing strategy and volumes required to turn this in to a business?

[pimping]

Yeah all sorted.

[robminiman]

not wanting to sound harsh here but if you need to ask that, its not going to work

[spikeyhead]

I've only done it once, but was sorted by a local recovery company that ran a big fleet of trucks that would run on the crappy mix that they pulled out of the tank. No disposal costs would have saved them a fortune.

[Frimley111R]

robminiman said:

not wanting to sound harsh here but if you need to ask that, its not going to work

I'm maybe going to sound a bit harsh here but that is a stupid comment! You are saying 'If you have to ask to find something out then you'll never use that information successfully'. It's perfectly sensible to ask on the UK's biggest automotive/business forum about a related business. The OP may not find out anything helpful but at least he asked. Starting a business always requires help and support and inevitably...questions.

Of course, I may be completely wrong and you can justify you comment with evidence?

[TOV!E]

robminiman said:

not wanting to sound harsh here but if you need to ask that, its not going to work

Tosser, let's hope you never need help

[TOV!E]

robminiman said:

not wanting to sound harsh here but if you need to ask that, its not going to work

Tosser, let's hope you never need help

[Thankyou4calling]

robminiman said:

not wanting to sound harsh here but if you need to ask that, its not going to work

What a daft thing to say. He's asking for advice on a new business venture and you're saying that by doing that he will fail. Jesus that really does take the biscuit.

[wasserboxer]

Have you been to a selection of local and not so local petrol stations and asked for recommendations?

You'll probably find most stations have a selection of two or three business cards to hand out. And it doesn't happen anywhere near as often as you may think.

Additionally, at least one of the breakdown services offers 'fuel assist' as a complementary part of their cover.

And there's the minor issue of getting licensing for carrying and disposal of the fuel you remove from the cars.

[pimping]

Yes I've been investigating further and the only real fly in the ointment is business insurance as I work away alot and this will be a 'hobby business'.
Its still not put me off and 1 job a week should be enough.

Edited by pimping on Monday 9th June 23:26

[pimping]

Currently just started doing 'man in a van' 10 days ago and only had one little job.
Still its a start and my business cards should be here soon.
Problem is I am very rural so not too many people.

[wasserboxer]

Before worrying about how to identify fuel lines and how to suck it out of the vehicles - you may want to call the local Petroleum Officer for advice.

It's not quite as simple as a big tank to dump the 'wrong' fuel in.

[TheEnd]

Frimley111R said:

robminiman said:

not wanting to sound harsh here but if you need to ask that, its not going to work

I'm maybe going to sound a bit harsh here but that is a stupid comment! You are saying 'If you have to ask to find something out then you'll never use that information successfully'. It's perfectly sensible to ask on the UK's biggest automotive/business forum about a related business. The OP may not find out anything helpful but at least he asked. Starting a business always requires help and support and inevitably...questions.

Of course, I may be completely wrong and you can justify you comment with evidence?

I thought one of the best bits of business advice was to stick to what you know.

Anyway, it's likely you'll need some sort of waste carrier's license, and a plan for what to do with the waste fuel. There's a good chance that the EA will want to see bunded storage tanks, and some sort of plan to drain them.

[Rick101]

robminiman said:

not wanting to sound harsh here but if you need to ask that, its not going to work

In your defence I don't think that's a silly statement.
If the OP does not know what basic equipment he needs to do a job, never mind set up a business around that, it could be a challenge.

I'd note my new car has a misfuelling device. There may not be so much call for it in future.

[Pet Troll]

If you get this off the ground and are having trouble disposing of the misfuel then contact me as I can dispose of it FOC for you.

[snowdude2910]

Worth noting you can't put diesel in a petrol only the other way around so what you end up with is a mainly petrol mix which wont work in your presumably diesel van if that's what your thinking. Chuck it in a petrol car though and it should be fine providing it's mostly petrol. When draining tanks I've always used a £1.99 hand pump from wilkos but I'd imagine machinemart or toolstaiton will sell an electric syphon pump. Fuel lines are quite easily Identifiable on most cars as they'll be going into the fuel filter housing in the engine bay and are the tougher sort of pipe as opposed to the vacum pipes which should be the only other pipe of similar dimensions.

[Simpo Two]

snowdude2910 said:

Worth noting you can't put diesel in a petrol only the other way around so what you end up with is a mainly petrol mix which wont work in your presumably diesel van if that's what your thinking.

When I once absent-mindedly put what I thought was diesel in my (diesel) car whilst noting what a nice green handle the nozzle had... from what I learned afterwards, the petrol floats on top of the diesel. Indeed the car drove perfectly for another 40+ miles until suddenly the warning light came on...



NB: Strange to see a playground word like 'tosser' used on the business forum; people here are usually sufficiently literate to express themselves better.

[plasticpig]

snowdude2910 said:

Worth noting you can't put diesel in a petrol only the other way around so what you end up with is a mainly petrol mix which wont work in your presumably diesel van if that's what your thinking. Chuck it in a petrol car though and it should be fine providing it's mostly petrol. When draining tanks I've always used a £1.99 hand pump from wilkos but I'd imagine machinemart or toolstaiton will sell an electric syphon pump. Fuel lines are quite easily Identifiable on most cars as they'll be going into the fuel filter housing in the engine bay and are the tougher sort of pipe as opposed to the vacum pipes which should be the only other pipe of similar dimensions.

Yes you can. I have managed to put diesel in a petrol fueled car a couple of years ago. Most modern cars you can't but old cars you can certainly do it.

[pimping]

I think the business insurance will kill this idea for me as this will only be a sideline and I can't justify the risk of not being insured and destroying someone's engine or paying the thousands of pounds a year insurance when I might not be around enough to use it.

Cheers for the help and advice but it's looking like the 'man in a van' theme may continue on. Especially now since I have 600 ste vistaprint business cards to wing at people at will!